Shoe daubing and polishing device



1964 s. L. WORTHINGTON 3,161,903

SHOE DAUBING AND POLISHING DEVICE Filed May 13, 1963 INVENTOR.

SAMUEL L. WORTHINGTON FIG 6 ATT'ORNEY United States Patent Oil ice fiblfifid Patented Dec. 22, 1964 3,161,933 SHGE DAUBHNG AND PfiLEhlNG DEVECE Samuel Worthington, 1621 Fuller Drive, alt Lake City, Utah Filed l'viay 13, 1963, Ser. No. 279,957 7 laims. c1. 15-596) This invention relates to shoe polishing devices.

It is the primary object of the invention to provide a shoe polishing device which combines in a single container, polish, a polish applicator or dauber and the final polishing element.

A further important object is the provision of such a device in which a single element performs the functions of a polish holder, polish applicator and final polisher all available to use by removal of a single cover and usable to selectively perform daubing or polishing in accordance with the desire of the user.

A related object is the provision of an improved method of assembly of such a device to the end that its function and longevity are increased.

This is a continuation-in-part of my co-pending but earlier application Serial No. 187,647, now abandoned, filed April 16, 1962, for Combination Daubing and Polishing Device.

In such a co-pending application there is disclosed and claimed a device comprising a cylindrical container having a base and a cover, a cellular sponge-like member substantially filling the cross sectional area of the base and of volume to extend above the base sidewalls, means securing on y a central part of the bottom of the sponge to the bottom of the base, and the sponge being impregnated with polish at least in its bottom portion within the base while at least its top surface is free from polish. When s device is scutfed across a shoe with moderate pressure, because of the central fastening, the sponge is caused to partially roll out of the base thereby bringing the polish-impregnated portion into contact with the shoes. The non-impregnated portion trails the impregnated portion thus buffing the shoe. A final polish is given simply by reducing the pressure or application and/or holding the top surface of the sponge more nearly parallel to the shoe so that only the clean sponge contacts the shoe.

The device as so far described has proven completely successful but some difiiculty has been experienced due to excess polish being smeared onto the polishing surface of the sponge during a hard scufiing action. An additional problem of economic importance has been encountered due to inability of the sponge to stretch far enough from the central fastening area to permit full utilization of its polish content.

The present invention, in attaining its stated objects, includes all of the advantages provided by the invention of my said co-pending application and additionally provides structural improvements overcoming the aforementioned disadvantages.

in rder that the invention may be more readily understood and carried into effect reference is made to the accompwying drawings and the description thereof, which are offered by way of illustration only and not in limitation of the invention, the scope of which is defined by the appended claims rather than by a general description.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a complete embodiment of the invention showing the cover removed.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the basic form of invention as disclosed and claimed in my above men tioned co-pending application Serial No. 187,647.

FIG. 3 is a side sectional View of the improved form of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 illustrating the mannor of impregnating the sponge with polish.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the manner of using the device for daubing polish onto the shoe while simultaneously polishing the daubed portion.

FIG. 6 is a perspective View similar to FIG. 5 but showing the devicein use solely as a final polisher.

PEG. 7 is a side sectional view illustrating action of the sponge during daubing operation.

As illustrated, the device comprises a generally cylindrical receptacle or housing formed from a base menu ber 11 having a flat bottom 12 attached to marginal sidewalls 13, and a similarly shaped cover 14 having a top 16 and attached marginal sidewalls l7.

Contained within the housing and snugly filling at least the base is a sponge generally designated 18 and formed from elastic cellular material such as natural sponge or a suitable plastic foam.

The sponge is secured to the base only by attachment, as by cement, in a central or median area 319 between the sponge bottom and the housing bottom. This permits the sponge to roll out of the base upon scuffing against a shoe 2.1 as in FIG. 5 thereby bringing both a polish hearing or daubing portion 22 and a polishing portion 23 into contact with the shoe.

As previously noted, a structure (FIG. 2) employing the sponge as a single uninterrupted mass will suffer from the disadvantage of excess polish smearing up onto the normally polish-free surfaces of the sponge. In accordance with the invention, this is avoided by physically separating the polish-bearing sponge portion from the normally polish-free portion. This separation is accomplished by one or more peripheral or annular slits such as shown at 24 in the side of the sponge, the slit being substantially normal to the side of the sponge and transverse to its axis.

This side slit is extremely important because it serves the important function of providing an intercept against smearing of polish and at the same time permits the additional sponge area exposed by the cut to act as a preliminary polisher. This action is clearly illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 7 which illustrate opening up of the sponge during the daubing operation so that any excess polish is picked up first by the interior wall 26 on the top side of the slit 24 and only thereafter does the side polishing surface 23 contact the shoe.

Moreover, in the embodiment shown, the slit serves the additional function of a barrier against polish passing to the upper sidewalls of the sponge by capillary action. It is to be noted that the side slit will provide the described advantages even though the entire bottom of the sponge is secured to the base which could be the case it" the bottom sponge portion is employed primarily as a polish reservoir and the major daubing action occurs by the wall 26 adjacent the slit 2 4. In such a structure, wall 26 would be loaded with polish by first compressing the sponge against the shoe then scufiing as in FIG. 5. Although such an embodiment is not equivalent of those shown in the drawings, it is included within the scope of the invention insofar as utilization of the side slit is concerned.

As hereinbefore explained, it is important to obtain maximum roll-out of the sponge in order to facilitate maximum use of its polish content. The use of only a central adhesion point 19 as in FIG. 2 does basically accomplish this purpose, but requires extra pressure when the polish gets low and this may cause rupture of the joint 19 or cause uncontrolled smearing of the polish. However, the present invention overcomes these disadvantages by the novel expedient of freezing a major portion of the sponge from the adhesion point. This is accomplished by providing an annular slit 27 around the central anchor, such slit forming an internal column 28 generally parallel to the side wall of the sponge and coaxial with its axis. This results in a structure wherein the column 2.8 becomes part of the anchor to which the rest of the spon e is hinged; and the sponge is free to roll readily out of the base-even'to expose the bottom with only moderate pressure.

The sponge should fill the entire base, otherwise polish will accumulate in pockets with the result that chunks may flake off on use. Moreover, if there are pockets or gaps, uniform impregnation of the sponge becomes diflicult and wasteful.

As shown in FIG. 4, the sponge is best impregnated after it is anchored in place. impregnation is effected by heating Wax to liquefication then injecting a meas ured 7 portion thereof under pressure-as by needle 29-into the base of the sponge. The amount injected is determined empirically but should be sufficient to at least impregnate all that portion of the sponge within the base; and desirably up to the slit 24. In connection with the slits 24 and 27, the side slit 24 will act as a barrier even during impregnation since it is not confined. Whereas bottom slit 27 is confined and will allow polish to pass. If desired, impregnation can be accomplished by injecting polish at one or more locations only outside the column 28.

The top surface 23 of the sponge may be irregular as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, or flat as shown in the other views.

The cover should completely close the housing to protect the sponge against dirt, excess heat and the like. However, an aid in opening the housing is provided by dimensioning the sponge to be slightly longer than the interior of the closed housing. This will slightly compress the sponge when the cover is in place and the compression will tend to urge the cover off when it is disengaged from the base. In this connection, the base and cover may be molded from stiff but deformable plastic for friction fit as shown in FIG. 1. In such an arrangement, a side pressure on the closed housing will upset the frictional engagement and the sponge will push the cover off.

From the foregoing it will be evident that the present invention fills a long-felt need for a complete polishing device usable without soiling the users hands to apply polish or to shine shoes or both{ And bythe unique hinging arrangements provided by the side slit the shine action is insulated from the polish reservoir while the co-axial slit provides a hinge enabling complete access to the polish reservoir.

I claim:

1. As an article of manufacture a daubing device, comprising a flexible sponge member having top and bottomsurface as well as a side surface transverse to said top and bottom surface, a columnar anchor defined in a medial portion of one of said top and bottom surfaces, said anchor being defined by an endless cut in said one surface extending into said sponge toward said other surface, a base, means securing the surface of said columnar anchor to said base.

2. A daubing and polishing device comprising a generally tubular open-ended receptacle closed at one end by a base wall and defined peripherally by a side wall extending from said base wall, a flexible sponge substantially filling said receptacle and extending axially from its open end to terminate at a free end surface beyond said side wall and having its opposite end in contact with said base wall, an endless cut in a medial portion of said opposite end wall of said sponge extending axially into said sponge, means anchoring the sponge surface inside said endless cut to said base wall, a second endless cut encircling said sponge and extending transversely thereinto between its ends, and material to be daubed impregnated into said sponge between said opposite end wall and said second endless cut.

3. A daubing and polishing device according to claim 2 in which said receptacle is deformable upon the application of pressure to its side walls and there is additionally provided a closure member adapted to fit over and frictionally engage the side wall of said receptacle, said closure member being of dimension such that it compresses said free end of said sponge upon'engagernent with said receptacle.

4. A daubing and polishing device comprising an open ended generally tubular hollow receptacle formed with a base closing one end thereof and straight marginal sidewalls extending from said base, a flexible cellular member with its lower end filling said receptacle and its other end extending from the open end of said receptacle to terminate in a free end spaced beyond said straight side walls, said lower end of said flexible member being impregnated with a daubing material, anchor means securing a medial portion only'ofthe lower end of said flexible member to a medial portion only of said base, and a slit formed in the peripheral side of said flexible member substantially transverse to said marginal walls of said tubular receptacle thereby to hinge an annular portion of the free end of said flexible member to the remainder thereof.

5. A device adapted for daubing comprising an openended generally tubular receptacle having a base wall closing one end and a straight marginal side wall extending therefrom to terminate at a free edge thereby to define said open end, a sponge filling said receptacle and extending beyond the open end thereof, anchor means securing said sponge in said receptacle, said anchor means securing a portion only of said sponge to a portion of said base wall, and a hinge forming slit in the surface of said sponge extending from said base wall into said sponge adjacent said anchor means. a

6. A device according to claim 5 in which said anchor means is located in a medial position on said base wall and said hinge-forming slit is an endless slit encircling said anchor means.

7. A device according to claim 5 with the addition of a second hinge-forming slit comprising an endless slit encircling said sponge and extending thereinto from and transverse to the plane of said side wall.

CHARLES A. WILLMUTH, Primary Examiner. 

1. AS AN ARTICLE OF MANUFACTURE A DAUBING DEVICE, COMPRISING A FLEXIBLE SPONGE MEMBER HAVING TOP AND BOTTOM SURFACE AS WELL AS A SIDE SURFACE TRANSVERSE TO SAID TOP AND BOTTOM SURFACE, A COLUMNAR ANCHOR DEFINED IN A MEDIAL PORTION OF ONE OF SAID TOP AND BOTTOM SURFACES, SAID ANCHOR BEING DEFINED BY AN ENDLESS CUT IN SAID ONE SURFACE EXTENDING INTO SAID SPONGE TOWARD SAID OTHER SURFACE, A BASE, MEANS SECURING THE SURFACE OF SAID COLUMNAR ANCHOR TO SAID BASE. 